Improvement in burial-caskets



E. ALLEN.

BURIAL CASKETS.

.Patented Sept. 26, 1876.

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NITED STATES PATENT ETHAN ALLEN, 0E KALAMAZoo, MICHIGAN, AssIeNoE 0E Two-THIEDS 0E HIS EIGHT To HosEA HENIKA AND oscAE M. ALLEN, or SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BURIAL-GASKETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 182,514, dated September 26, 1876; application filed August 7, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ETHAN ALLEN, of Kalamazoo, in the county of Kalamazoo and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burial-Gaskets 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which Will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to coflins or burialcases, and is designed to afford an improved means for readily gaining access to the interior of a coffin by the removable small glass lid seated in the main cover of a coffin. Heretofore this removable glass has been connected with, and disengaged from, the main cover in diii'erent Ways and by several kinds of mechanism; but my invention consists in the combination, with the independent glass lid seated in the main cover of a coflin or burialcase, of a spring or equivalent device acting in a plane parallel to same, and adapted to automatically hold the lid in its place and yet capable of yielding sufficiently toapplied force,A so that by pressure against the spring the lid maybe released from its engagement with the main cover, and partially or wholly removed from same.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section of a coffin provided with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a plan of the coflin with the glass detached, to show its supporting-shoulder, and the cross-piece of the main lid broken away to show the spring.

A is the body of the coflin or casket. B isV the main lid to same, and C is the glass-protecting or upper lid. This glass-protectin g lid is directly removable from the main lid, to which it is secured, by means of projecting lugs at its lower extremity engaging with iianged recesses, and a button or catch-piece at its head locking into a flange of the main lid. The lower or reverse side of this upper lid is provided with an upholstered attachment or cushion, D, which is sufficiently full and large to press upon the glass plate E, as both ot' same are in relative position. When the glass is in place and the protecting-lid is locked to the main lid the cushion is brought down against the glass with a bearing which serves to prevent any tendency the loose glass might otherwise have to rattle or unpleasantly move in its supports as the coffin may be carried. F is the iiange or shoulder on the interior edge of the opening in the main lid for the reception of the glass plate E. At the upper and lower extremities of this opening the shoulder is provided with over-hanging iianges f, so constructed as to form grooved recesses G G at both these points, in which the respective parts of the glass lind secure engagements, and which hold same in place. The upper grooved support G is of a depth smaller than the lower one G, and both are in such relative proportion to the glass so that while the latter cannot be removed from tlie coffin by pushing same to' the extreme upper limit of v the head-groove G', yet upon passing the glass down against the lowest limit of the groove G the top ofthe glass is no longer within the upper groove, and hence can be readily raised, and the glass drawn out from the lower groove. The glass plate is, however, held Within the grooves by a constant spring-force compressing same within and up to the extreme limit of the upper groove, so that the force of the spring must iirst be overcome and the plate slid down into the lower groove before it can be removed from the casket.

The means I have used in thus maintaining a constant actuation of the plate up againstthe inner limit of the upper groove is a simple spring-lever piece, H, secured within the lower groove, and bent so as to operate against pressure in a line of direction leading into the upper groove, but any other appropriate device may be substituted for same, such as rubber or equivalent yielding material, the essential matter involved being a force to press the plate up into the head-groove, and yet capable of yielding to a superior force which will allow of the removal of the plate, and stilll have suflicient reactive tension to resume its original position and exert a similar power against the plate upon replacement of the latter. It is apparent that instead of the lower groove being deeper than the upper, and containing the spring, the exact reverse may be introduced, and the head-groove contain the spring, while the lower groove is of less depth, so both upper and lower groove may be changed to mere plain shoulders for supporting the plate, and one of the sides of the opening be constructed with a groove for the spring, while the opposite side is also a groove, but of less depth, and the plate be thus removable.

I have shown my groove and spring-glass engaging device as applied to a half-glass casket 5 but it is at once seen that same may be used in a full-glass casket or in any other similar way not affecting the substance of the invention.

Any suitablev catch-piece may be used to lift the glass from the supporting-shoulder or compress the glass down against the spring.

ETHAN ALLEN.f

Witnesses:

O. M. ALLiiiN,y Jr., FRANK MALLoN. 

